Page 43

halle

On the actual game day of All Star week, I sat with Lauren, Alex, and a few other girlfriends. After the first three days of spending time together, Lauren was already suspicious of what I was keeping from her. She'd come to know me fairly well when we were decorating the apartment. Well enough to know that I was acting a little off.

When I got up to go to the bathroom for the fifth time in half an hour, Lauren followed me. She waited until I came out of the stall to say something. Her arms were crossed and her eyes were narrowed. I had a feeling I knew what she was about to say.

"You're pregnant, aren't you?"

"What makes you think that?" I feigned innocence.

"Because you haven't touched a single drink this whole time, you were sick yesterday morning and missed press. And you've been peeing like crazy."

"So...does that mean pregnant to you?"

"Yes. You also deleted your socials. So did Tyler. Something's up."

"Ok. Fine." She started to squeal. "But you can't tell anyone! Seriously. We're keeping quiet for awhile. That's why we disabled Instagram. Clear off media for a bit."

"I totally get it. You guys are gonna be the cutest parents. Makes me want to get on Connor about having a kid."

"This was in no way planned Laur. Don't get your hopes up. And anything can happen. I'm only seven weeks along. I have to acne to show for it." I scowled at my reflection as my fingers brushed over the bumps on my chin. I'd tried to smother the red skin with concealer, but it hadn't exactly worked.

"Oh stop Hall. You literally look like you're glowing. If you didn't mind people knowing you'd be killing it with your confidence." I groaned.

"I know. I'm going to be self conscious about a bump for the next few months. Hopefully I can finish the season."

"You'll be fine. I think you're so tiny it'll barely show." I blushed.

"I don't know. Feel like I've eaten enough junk food this past month that I'm doomed."

"Don't you work out like crazy though?"

"Yeah Tayler and I go to the gym a lot. Mostly yoga. Sometimes body pump. Ty wants me to ease up to be safe when I get closer."

"I can't help you there. You'd have to check in with doctors to see what's safe, I guess. Ready to go back out?" I nodded. We left the bathroom together. Unless people paid close attention to us WAGs, we were basically undetectable. We weren't wearing team paraphernalia. Just normal clothing appropriate for the weather. It was the only reason I hadn't been more careful with my words. I could've been anyone right now. Not Tyler Dewalt's girlfriend. Just some girl. Flying under the radar.

This game was Pacific versus Central, Tyler against Connor. We'd casually watched the first game, not particularly interested. This one was different. Lauren and I were rooting against each other for this game. I cheered loudly when Tyler sailed onto the ice, just to irk the blonde next to me. Alex and I cheered for Elvis as well.

Tyler kicked off the quick pace with an easy goal, assisted by the Colorado Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon. Lauren threw her hand up when Connor answered with his own score, leveling the board again. They bounced back and forth for the first segment of the game. Elvis couldn't keep every shot away. It was obvious from the shared words between the forwards at the end of the first that this was a competition. Maybe friendly, but still a definite battle of skill.

While Tyler put up a solid effort, the Pacific sailed by with a score of seven to five. I couldn't be surprised, considering the forwards on the lines. Tyler couldn't carry a whole team by himself. It wasn't the same results as the previous year with Patrick and their connection. I was disappointed that he was out so soon, but I stuck around to watch Connor play for Lauren.

By the time the night was wrapping up, I was tired. The next day would consist of visiting Tyler's family before getting on a plane home. I rode back to the hotel with Alex while the rest of the women decided to go out to a bar in the area. In my room, we ordered take out to pass the time until Tyler and Elvis got back.

Half an hour into the food, Alex received a text from her boyfriend. She gave me an apologetic look as she reached for her coat.

"Elvis wants me to go back down and meet him. He says Tyler should be up." I nodded.

"Ok. Bye Lex. Have fun." I managed a smile at her.

Thankfully, he didn't keep me waiting for long. I'd just flipped onto my side to watch some Netflix on my phone when the door clicked and swung open. I was greeted with bright green eyes and an ear splitting smile. I sat up to meet him, unable to contain my happiness.

"Hey you." His familiar voice made me melt.

"Hey, Mr. All Star. Did you have fun?"

"Yep. Got to talk to a bunch of guys. Got a picture with Elvis on the ice. Sorry he pulled Alex away like that."

"It's fine. You were right behind her, so I wasn't alone for long. Chicken?" I waved my hand at the unfinished containers of food on the bed.

"Yes please." His eyes lit up. "I'm starving."

"Janet texted me earlier. She said to tell you that you played fantastically and the whole family can't wait to see you tomorrow." Tyler couldn't hide his smile from me.

"That was nice of her. I wonder if everyone will be there."

"Probably. Not too often their hockey star nephew comes to town. They only got to see you three times last year. I'm sure they'd prefer more." He grinned, a look coming over his face. I knew the look too well. All thoughts of visiting his family were erased from my mind.

Before I knew it, Tyler had cleared the bed of random items and was staring me down with a hungry look. He hover over me, like a snake poised to strike. I let him kiss me, keeping the contact light at first. When he wanted more, I let out a whine.

"Ty. Is that the best idea?" He pouted.

"It's perfectly safe. And healthy, actually. The one thing I've researched." I rolled my eyes.

"Of course you did. Can't survive nine months?"

"No way."

"You're the one that got us into this mess." I poked his chest with a finger.

"Not a mess. It's a wonderful, awesome, amazing surprise." He leaned down to kiss me again. I smiled into to touch.

"Y'know, it was around this time two years ago that we had our first kiss. Imagine if I'd actually made you wait longer. Maybe this little bug wouldn't be happening." I affectionately gestured at my stomach.

"I think it was all meant to be." Tyler gently shifted down the length of my body until he was at my stomach. I giggled as he pushed my shirt up. There was still nothing to show for seven weeks, but he didn't care. He peppered light kisses across my skin in a U-shape. He didn't stop, even when I complained about his stubble tickled me. The presence of stubble made me think about the acne on my chin and how the rough hair would affect it. The acne made me think about Lauren. I cursed.

"Oh, damn. I forgot. Lauren found out. Like, I didn't tell her anything. She just turned into a little detective and figured things out through the power of deducing." I sighed, bringing my hands up to rub my face. "I'm starting to think we should just tell everyone already. I really wanted to wait."

"No one is forcing you to tell people. You just feel guilty that you're hiding things." Tyler had a point.

"And I'm paranoid about my body all the time. I know I don't look different yet but it's going to start eventually. I feel bloated all the time." I complained. Tyler planted another kiss right above my belly button.

"You'll do fine."

"I hope so."

"You will." He insisted. I smirked as he kissed me again. This time, I let him continue.

&&&

We spent the next day at Janet's, relaxing in the company of Tyler's family. I managed to go through the day without being too obvious with my symptoms, even though I was sure Susan was suspicious. When we left for our eight o'clock flight, it felt way too soon. Like Tyler had said, I felt guilty for not telling them. Didn't Janet deserve to know about her great grandchild?

Like every flight we took, it was uneventful and boring. Without Elvis and Alex to talk to, I snoozed on Tyler's shoulder for most of the trip. And like the flight into Pittsburgh, I promptly got sick when we landed. I felt bloated and completely grossed out by the time I left the bathroom. I glared at Tyler with a vengeance.

"I will never get on another flight in my life." He looked bewildered.

"It's not my fault."

"If you weren't so damn good at hockey you wouldn't have been invited to the All Star week and I wouldn't have had to deal with this!" Tyler started to look amused. My temper flared. I held up another finger. "Don't say anything else. Just get me home. I'm tired."

I waited impatiently with our bags until Tyler had pulled around in the Mercedes. I was close to snapping at him again. If he'd said anything on the ride home, I knew I would've retaliated with something harsh. Thankfully, he spared both of us the pain.

Instead, he pulled into a McDonald's drive through and presented me with a chocolate milkshake and a bag of fries. After that, my mood improved drastically. I even hummed the songs that played from his Spotify. My touchiness didn't register with me until we were in the elevator going up. I groaned when I realized how ridiculous I'd been. As we started for the door, I apologized.

"I'm sorry I was so mood swingy. I guess this little bundle of joy likes to mess with their mother's emotions." I cringed. Tyler only smiled knowingly as he unlocked the apartment door.

"Seven more months of this. I'll bunker down with lots of milkshakes, don't worry." He leaned over to kiss my head. The sound of someone clearing their throat made us both jump.

I turned to find my parents standing in the middle of our apartment.

"Halle?" Tyler's tone was questioning as he turned to me. I gestured helplessly.

"I, uh, gave them a key. Last time they were here." I looked helplessly at my mother. The look on her face made my mouth dry out.

"We thought could come surprise you. Until we find these on the counter." She gestured at the books on the island. They were maternity guides my doctor had recommended. I'm sure the titles of Young Motherhood and You're Pregnant, Now What? weren't easy to explain. My mother finished her thought after she'd crossed her arms. "Maybe you're the one that has a surprise." I looked helplessly up at Tyler. He looked just as pale. Any hope of reassurance from him was futile. I gulped and turned back to my parents.

"I think we should all sit down." This was not how I imagined telling my parents. I felt the dread rising in my stomach. I felt like I was going to puke again. My palms were sweaty and weak.

After the four of us had taken a seat on the couch, I took a shaky breath. This time, Tyler reached out and squeezed my hand. I was grateful when he didn't let go.

"Around two weeks ago I went to the doctor. And she did an ultrasound. And I found out I'm...I'm pregnant." I couldn't meet my mother's gaze. I felt terrible. Like a disappointment.

"I thought you were smarter than that."

"I—We were. I was on the pill. I didn't miss a single day. Somehow this just happened. It's not 100% effective. There's always some cases that slip through."

"That's not being safe enough." Her tone was severe. "You're only twenty one! Both of you! You're barley old enough to drink alcohol in the states and now you expect to be able to take care of another life? You could barely take care of yourself when you thought Tyler broke your heart." Tyler stiffened beside me. I pressed my shaking leg into his, warning him not to say anything.

"I know we're young. I know we're inexperienced and naive and not in the right place. I could get rid of it still. That's what most people would suggest. But I can't do that. I can't. So I'm growing up and I'm going to be a damn good mom." My voice was falsely confident.

"You can kiss the college payments goodbye. It's obvious you won't be finishing your senior year. You'll be a little busy." My father's passive aggressive tone made me flinch internally. Tyler opened his mouth to speak. He ignored my warning glare.

"I respect both of your feelings towards this, but it's happening and there's nothing that will change how much I already love this baby. It's not just Halle's life that's being changed. I have a whole career ahead of me. One that is heavily involved with millions of people all over the world. You don't think I'll receive heavy backlash for this? False criticism over my playing? And it won't be me that's blamed for every loss. It's going to be Halle. They'll go after Halle and blame her for all my discrepancies as a player because she chose to follow through and have my child. That's enough of a future to look forward to. It's not going to help for you two berate her over something she didn't have control over. We were safe. We took precautions. Surprises happen. But I don't regret anything, and if you disagree with us on this matter then I'm going to kindly ask you to leave our apartment before things get nasty." His passion turned into cool diplomacy that had obviously been honed over years of dealing with the press. My heart melted at his words and the way he stuck up for me. It was obvious my parents didn't know how to respond. My mother worked her jaw for a moment. When she spoke, it wasn't criticism.

"When are you due?" Her voice was smaller and subdued. As if she wasn't talking about something so major.

"September fifteenth." She offered me a small smile.

"And I hope you two will be getting married after all this. I'm not sure I could deal with anymore break from tradition." I actually laughed. I hadn't really thought about that. To imagine how my religious-raised parents were reacting to me moving in with my boyfriend of a year without being married, and now having a kid under the same circumstances. I was surprised they hadn't cracked already.

"Already planning on it." Tyler had visibly relaxed, although my dad was still shooting daggers at him. "Maybe not a wedding this summer, but it's definitely going to happen." He smiled at me. I smirked back.

"Ok. Good." My mom let out a breath as she sat back. "I'm going to be a grandmother. And I'm not even fifty yet. Who would've thought? I thought Johnny and Lisa would be first." I smiled at the mention of my brother and his high school sweetheart. "Then again, you always were more grown up than he was. Always had a handle on matters that should've been way over your head."

"Mom, we're trying to keep this as down low as possible. So press and fans don't get a hold of it and run. So if you could keep quiet that would be awesome. We're going to let the team and staff know closer to so they'll be aware of any absences. Other than that, it's under wraps. We both got rid of our social medias so comments don't slip through."

"That's smart. See, I wouldn't have thought of that. Honey, I really don't think you're too young. I was just worried about your schooling. I did have Mason at twenty, after all. That really felt like the end of my life. But it wasn't. I think you'll be able to handle it."

"You get time off from games for the birth of a child?" My dad's voice was gruff as he address Tyler.

"No sir. Not if it's the day before or the morning of, anyway."

"So you won't be around much?" The question made Tyler flinch.

"I'll be home as often as I can."

Which isn't much. I didn't dare speak the words out loud.

"Dad, I'll have Tayler and everyone else here to help me. I won't be alone."

"Kids need their fathers to be around." Tyler flinched again.

"I know. I definitely know. I'm going to be there every spare second I have. I'm not going to miss anything." As much as Tyler wished that would be true, we both knew it wasn't.

Tyler was going to miss crucial weeks on the baby's growth. He would miss smiles and laughter and maybe even first words. He'd hate himself for it, but there was nothing he could do. At least he would be home when he could. He wasn't walking out. He would never let that happen.

Tyler wasn't his father. It was his biggest fear. I might be on my own for a week or two at a time, but I would never have to worry about whether or not Tyler would return to us.

He would give anything to give this baby a good childhood. He wanted the world for our unborn child. He wanted to him them everything he never had. He wanted to be a father.